Archive for January, 2011

Devon’s annual Inter-Area Jamboree took place in Exeter on Sunday, with evenly-matched teams of 12 from the four quarters of the county. The West team draws mostly on the membership of the Plymouth Club; The North players come from Tiverton and Barnstaple; the South team comes from the clubs around Torbay, while the East comprises clubs on the Devon section of the Jurassic Coast plus Exeter.

The match was well-contested with the outcome in doubt right up to the end, but when the last game finished it was Tony Tatam, captain of the West team that was to receive the trophy from the Organiser, Alan Maynard. The East were runners-up followed by the North and South.

This game from Board 5 was soon over.

White: P. J. Kennedy (151). Black: A. Billings (148).

Reti Opening [A04]

1.Nf3 f5 Key move of the Dutch Defence. White would normally have fianchettoed and castled Kingside waiting to see what his opponent does, but this unusual move calls for a more immediate response. 2.d3 Nf6 3.e4 White gambits a pawn to gain space for piece development, while destroying Black’s defensive position before it is even completed. 3…fxe4 4.dxe4 Nxe4 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.Ng5 d5 7.Nxh7 Black is in trouble already. 7…Be6 Certainly not 7…Nxh7?? 8.Bg6+ Kd7 forced 9.Qxd5 mate. Perhaps better might have been 7…e5 allowing the black-squared bishop out at some point – certainly its subsequent inability to do so proves fatal. 8.Bg6+ Bf7 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Ng5+ Ke8 11.Qd3 Ne4 Normally Black would want to swap pieces off in the hope of drawing the sting of the attack, but this doesn’t help here. 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Qxe4 Winning another pawn and threatening both a check on g6 and the pawn on b7. 13…Nc6 14.Be3 Qd6 15.Nc3 Rd8 16.Nb5 Qb4+ 17.Qxb4 Nxb4 18.0–0 Preparation before the finale begins. 18…Nxc2 19.Nxc7+ Kf7 20.Rac1 Nxe3 21.fxe3+ Kg8 22.Ne6 Rb8 and now the end of the wretched trapped bishop spells the end of the game. 23.Rxf8+ Rxf8 24.Nxf8 Resigned, in view of … 24…Kxf8 25.Rc8+ winning the rook. 1–0

The scores of all 24 games and other details may be found on the chessdevon website, while charts and photographs of the action are on keverelchess.com.

Dave Howard’s original composition last week was solved by 1.Kf2! Black’s best chance is Ra2+ although this is answered by Be2 both blocking the check and unleashing a check with his own rook, from which the King cannot escape.

This position is taken from the Quality Chess Puzzle Book by John Shaw, and comes from the game Jack Rudd v Khamroev. What move did Jack now play that earned him a double exclamation mark in the book and a win 4 moves later?

Devon’s encounter with Hampshire on Saturday was truly a match of two halves in the sense that Devon I were beaten as soundly by Hants I as were Hants II beaten by Devon II. Devon were not helped by having several players drop out at short notice and their Boards 1 – 8 were all outgraded and a 6-2 loss there was not a great shock in itself, but on Boards 9 – 16 the teams were much more closely matched, yet Devon lost that section by an even wider margin, 6.5 – 1.5.

Meanwhile, it was a case of roles reversed in the 2nd team match. Former British Ladies Champion, Gillian Moore led the way for Hampshire, but a run of 9 consecutive losses lower down the order, helped by two defaults, helped Devon II to an equally comprehensive win. Here are the details of both sections:-

This annual event is scheduled for a Sunday in January, when teams of 12 players are invited from each of quarter of Devon. It usually involves three teams, but this year all areas were able to raise a side, and they met at Exeter, at the Isca Centre, a comfortably appointed indoor bowls and bridge club, recently built on the site of the old County Show Ground. The North team is drawn from the membership of Tiverton and Barnstaple, South comes from the various clubs in Torbay, while the East comprises clubs in the Exeter & District League and the West comes from the membership of the large Plymouth Club. The overall population base of each area is approximately equal at 250,000, so to that extent it tends to make for a close contest.

Players are matched according to the Hutton Pairing system, which ensures that although the teams are mixed up, the formula guarantees that, for example where 4 teams are involved, four players from any one team will play each of the other teams, and of those four, 2 will have the white pieces and the other two being black. And, where there is an even number of teams, all players will be matched with someone on the same board number as themselves. It’s complicated, but it works and it’s fair.

Before the start, the organiser, Alan Maynard, was the only person to have seen all the team lists and ventured that the winners would be either East or West, but no-one was fooled by that prophesy as anything can happen in this kind of match – and usually does.

Certainly, the East started well, winning two of their 1st 3 games, while the West lost their 1st games, but from then on there was never more than a point between them. In the end, it came down to the very last game to finish, David Toms of the East against Richard Pollock of the West, Toms needing to win for East to share 1st place. In the early endgame, Toms had blundered away a bishop, having seen the trap in earlier analysis, but had two extra pawns for it. It came down to a bishop + 3 vs 5 pawns. Toms fought gamely to give himself a chance, and indeed both queened a pawn. But Pollock was able to force them both off immediately and was left with a solitary pawn free to get his 3rd queen. So the matter was settled by the last pawn in the last game to finish - it was that close.

Summary Chart.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Total

Pos.

East

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

½

½

0

1

6

2nd

North

1

1

½

1

0

1

0

½

0

0

0

0

5

4th

South

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

½

½

½

1

1

5½

3rd

West

1

1

½

0

0

1

1

0

1

1

1

0

7.5

1st

Details.

Bd

WHITE

Grd

BLACK

Grd

1

E1

J. Stephens

181

0

1

J. Duckham

165

N1

2

S1

A. Clarke

164

0

1

D. Twine

170

W1

3

N2

S. Bartlett

162

1

1

W. Ingham

164

S2

4

W2

R. Pollock

164

1

0

D. A. Toms

159

E2

5

E3

P. J. Kennedy

151

1

0

A. Billings

148

S3

6

N3

S. Clarke

155

½

½

M. Stinton-B

149

W3

7

S4

R. Wilby

133

0

1

I. Annetts

155

N4

8

S4

E. J. Smith

143

1

0

B. Gosling

156

E4

9

S5

J. E. Allen

140

1

0

J. Morrison

152

N5

10

E5

J. S. Murray

143

1

0

K. Bloodworth

122

W5

11

N6

J. Knowles

133

1

0

G. Body

140

E6

12

W6

A. Tatam

127

1

0

J. W. Clarke

129

S6

13

E7

R. H. Jones

138

1

0

R. Dooley

114

N7

14

S7

N. F. Tidy

129

0

1

R. Greenhalgh

117

W7

15

N8

S. T-Tracey

114

½

½

F. Sugden

127

S8

16

W8

C. Peach

114

0

1

O. Wensley

120

E8

17

E9

J. Dzenis

120

½

½

K. Hindon

124

S9

18

N9

B. Aldwin

111

0

1

J. Ariss

111

S9

19

W10

D. Scantlebury

112

1

0

B. Connor

88

N10

20

S10

G. Bramley

110

½

½

H. Welch

115

E10

21

S11

J. Doidge

106

1

0

J. Wheadon

88

N11

22

E11

F. R. Hodge

111

0

1

J. Dean

109

W11

23

N12

A. Barclay

35

0

1

W. Fairbairn

101

E12

24

W12

C. Zisimides

97

0

1

N. Mills

93

S12

The Top 4 Boards Get the Show on the Road.

Kennedy vs Billings on Bd. 5 Make Their Opening Moves

All 4 Whites Here Won their Games; Allen, Murray, Knowles & Tatam.

General view of the action - John Duckham in the foreground

The last and decisive game to finish - Pollock vs Toms

Organiser Alan Maynard (r) presents the trophy to Tony Tatam, Captain of the West team.

The venerable post-Christmas Hastings Congress finished a few days ago, with Indian players dominating the prizelist. Deep Sengupta and Das Atghyadir shared 1st prize, while David Howell and Danny Gormally, both of England came 4th=.

The strongest competitor in the top section, the Masters in which 48 competed, was Romain Edouard of France and he went into the last round in the clear lead by a half point, but then fell at the final hurdle in this wild Sicilian Defence.

White: D. Sengupta (2527). Black: R. Edouard (2620)

Sicilian Defence – Richter Attack. [B66]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Be7 10.f4 Black knows he must act quickly against the White king or risk being overrun on the opposite wing, a typical theme in this opening. 10…b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 If 11…Bxf6 12.e5 dxe5 13.Qc5 Bd7 14.Nxb5 Be7 15.Nc7+ preventing castling 15…Kf8 16.Qxe5 Ra7 17.Nxa6. 12.e5 d5 13.Be2 Bb7 14.f5 fxe5 15.Qxe5 Bf6 16.Qg3 Qb8 17.Qh3 d4 18.fxe6 The sensible move would have been 18.Nb1 to save the knight, but White prefers attack to defence. 18…Qf4+ 19.Kb1 dxc3 20.exf7+ Kf8 21.a3 h5 22.Rhf1 White may be a piece down but at least all his pieces are developed and have scope to attack. Black’s rooks, meanwhile are still unconnected and his defences are fatally cramped. 22…Qe5 23.Bd3 Qg5 24.Qd7 Bxg2 25.Rde1 threatening Re8+ 25…Be7 If 25…Bxf1 26.Re8+ and there are 2 mates in 1. 26.Rf5 Qh4 threatening the rook, but it merely helps White to consolidate his forces even more. 27.Rfe5 Rd8 28.Qc7 Rxd3 29.cxd3 and Black resigned as the attack on e7 is too strong to resist.

Westcountry interest in the prizelist was rather thin. Jack Rudd of Bideford scored a creditable 5/9 points but was out of the prizes. Geoff Taylor of Gloucester, on the other hand, shared a Grading Prize in one of the lower sections.

Devon’s Inter-Area Jamboree takes place tomorrow afternoon in Exeter, involving four teams of 12 players, from the North, South, East and West of the county. The North won this event last year for the first time and will be hoping to retain the trophy, though there will be tough resistance from the other teams.

Next weekend sees a resumption of the Inter-County competition, which includes Hampshire taking on Devon at Wincanton.

In last week’s position, Keith Arkell finished off with 1.Rc1c7+ which left Cherniaev powerless to avoid massive material loss.

This unpublished 2-mover has been sent in by reader Dave Howard of West Harptree, near Bristol. Black’s two pieces have considerable flexibility, so how can White allow for that yet still mate in 2?

Devon’s only resident Grandmaster, Keith Arkell, is 50 this morning. On leaving school he decided to try and become a chess professional. Almost 35 years later, he has survived the arduous chess circuit, winning over 325 tournaments around the world in the process, including the titles of British RapidPlay Champion and the first English Champion 2008 (jointly with Stuart Conquest).

Here is one of his favourite wins, against the Paignton-born Gary Lane, taken from the recent book on the history of the Paignton Congress, 60 Years In The Same Room (Keverel Chess £15.99 ISBN 0-9531321-5-3).

White: G. W. Lane (209). Black: K. C. Arkell (223).

Caro Kann Defence [B10]

This was one of Arkell’s seven straight wins in the 1988 event and his best as it won one of two Best Game prizes. 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 If 3.e5 Black would probably have played 3…c5 a line which has Arkell’s name attached to it. dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bb3 Mestel v K. Arkell in the British Championship (Rd. 3) at Blackpool 5 weeks earlier had continued 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.dxc5 Nbd7 11.b4 Nd5 12.Bd2 Qf6 13.Rb1 a5 14.a3 g5 with sharp play. White won in 47 moves. 8…h6 9.N5f3 a5 10.a4 c5 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Ne5 Nbd5 13.Qb5+?! The start of ambitious play, but is it sound? 13…Ke7 14.dxc5 Nxf4 15.0–0–0 Bxe5! 16.Rxd8 Rxd8 17.c6

The following game from the recent London Chess Classic involved the 2010 British Champion, Taunton resident Mickey Adams, and his immediate predecessor.

White: M. Adams (2723). Black: David Howell (2611).

Ruy Lopez – Berlin Defence.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Inviting Black to take the e-pawn and accept the consequences of a more open game. Black usually declines and opts for a more closed position with something like 4…Be7. Howell, however, is in a pawn-grabbing mood. 4…Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Qe2 Nd6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 7…dxc6? can lead to problems after 8.dxe5 Nf5 9.Rd1 Bd7 (forced) 10.e6! fxe6 11.Ne5 Bd6 12.Qh5+ 12…g6 13.Nxg6 etc. 8.dxe5 Nb7 9.c4 0–0 10.Nc3 f6 11.Re1 fxe5 12.Qxe5 Bf6 13.Qg3 13…Nc5 14.Bg5 Nd3? Black is chasing rainbows when he should be continuing with sensible development – getting more pieces out. 15.Re3! Nxb2 Black is committed to the capture though it doesn’t help his cause at all. 16.Rae1 All White’s army is now poised for the attack. 16…Bxg5?! 17.Nxg5 Qf6. 18.Rf3 Qd8 19.Nce4 White has a choice of good moves, one being 19.Qe5, which craftily closes on the black knight, e.g. 19…Nxc4 20.Rxf8+ Qxf8 21.Qe4 with twin threats of Qxh7 mate and Qxc4. 19…Ba6 Adams now sounds the charge. 20.Nxh7! 20.Rxf8+ is also very good, e.g. 20…Qxf8 21.Nxh7! Kxh7 22.Ng5+ Kg8 23.Qh3! and it’s all over e.g. 23…Qb4 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Qh8#. 20…Rxf3 21.gxf3 Kxh7 22.Ng5+ Kg8 23.Qh4 Bxc4 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Re5 White could also have played, 25.Qh8+ though it is not quite as neat – e.g. 25…Bg8 26.Re5 Qf6 27.Nh7+ Kf7 28.Nxf6 Kxf6 29.f4. 25…Be6 26.Qh8+ Ke7 27.Qxg7+ Kd6 The only other move27…Ke8 also leads to mate in 1. 28.Ne4# 1–0

The Open Section was won jointly by Grandmasters Gawain Jones and Simon Williams on 7½/9 who received £2,000 each. Somewhat off the leading pace were Jack Rudd (Bideford) 6 and Keith Arkell (Paignton) 5½.

Devon’s Champion of Champions 2010 is the Exmouth representative, Mark Abbott, who beat Torquay’s Andy Dunn last week in a replayed final. His will be a new name on one of the Westcountry’s oldest and largest trophies, the Winter-Wood Shield.

In this position from 1977, Arkell was white and on his way to his first chess title, the Worcestershire Junior Championship. What did he now play to cause his opponent’s instant resignation?